Scots Actress Ruth Connell has found stardom in Los Angeles.. playing a witch

09:44, 5 Jan 2015

ByMark Howarth

RUTH from Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, had to emigrate to California to make her dreams come true.

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Scots actress Ruth Connell who is starring in US TV hit show Supernatural

ACTRESS Ruth Connell has told how she quit Scotland for Los Angeles – before finding stardom playing a Scots witch.

The elegant redhead is still unknown in her homeland but is a huge star in the States thanks to TV drama Supernatural.

Ruth, 35, landed the role of evil Rowena and made her debut on small screens coast-to-coast in November.

But the farmer’s daughter, from Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, had to emigrate to California to make her dreams come true.

She said: “I had worked my way up in theatre and I was being seen for TV and was pencilled in for some good stuff but it wasn’t coming through. It was very frustrating.

“There came a point in my life where I needed a change and a life challenge.

“It wasn’t just about my career, it was about moving to a new continent on my own and experiencing the challenges of setting up a life here.”

Three years after moving to LA and still searching for her big break, a friend recommended that she try out for the part of Rowena earlier this year.

Ruth said: “I just thought, ‘This is written for me.’ It was just so up my street. I was determined to do whatever it took to get seen for it.

“I put all of my Scottish clips on tape and sent it to the casting director’s office. They came back to me with an audition offer.

“My first meeting was so positive and I could see a little light go on when they met me and saw I was authentically Scottish and I could do the role. It doesn’t happen often as an actor that you think, ‘I have quite a good feeling about this.’

“The next day, I was in front of producers and the next day I had network approval.

“I absolutely feel that this is one of the reasons I was meant to be in America – to play Rowena. If you believe in anything supernatural, perhaps this is my little piece of magic and maybe it was meant to be.

“This show has given me everything I have wanted all in one go. I have been waiting a long time and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Bingo!’”

Ruth says living in California makes her appreciate her roots. She added: “I didn’t even realise how Scottish I was until I came to LA.

“When I was in Scotland, I was like, ‘I’m not the most Scottish person, I’m a child of the universe’, and then you travel 5000 miles. You quickly realise how much you have been influenced by the place you grew up in, the sensibilities you have and the language.

“There are a couple of instances in the script where I have made tiny suggestions, where things could be more Scottish.

“These are things I see as second nature because it is where I am from so I hope I brought some real authenticity to Rowena.

“She is really funny on the page and hopefully I bring my own little twinkle.”

Supernatural has millions of devoted fans since launching in 2005 and is now in its 10th series. It follows the fictional adventures of brothers Sam and Dean Winchester who travel America hunting demons.

Rowena has been introduced as the mother of their arch-nemesis Crowley.

Supernatural is returning to UK television screens for season nine. It will be broadcast on E4 later this year.

Channel 4 said: “E4 have announced the recruitment of demon hunters Sam and Dean Winchester in an attempt to combat the supernatural forces which are expected to descend upon the channel in early 2015.”

The show previously aired on Sky Living in the UK but was dropped in March.

The series is filmed in Vancouver and surrounding areas and was in development for nearly a decade as creator Eric Kripke spent several years unsuccessfully pitching it.

Its pilot was viewed by an estimated 5.69million viewers and the ratings of the first four episodes prompted Warner Brothers to pick up the series for a full season.